YAG laser surface densification of a zircon refractory by adding AlN nanoparticles

A zircon refractory zirconium silicate was surface melted with a pulsed YAG laser to introduce AlN nanoparticles, with the aim of improving its surface density and modifying the corresponding microstructure. The microstructure and phase structure features of the refractory induced by the laser beam were studied by scanning transmission microscopy, incorporating energy dispersive X-ray and X-ray diffraction analysis. Results show that the addition of AlN nanoparticles into the refractory surface significantly reduced the laser beam energy required to melt the surface of the refractory. The laser-melted depth was increased with an increase of laser power from 133 to 200 W. The microstructure of the laser-treated zone with the addition of AlN nanoparticles has a much finer dendritic structure with undeveloped primary dendrite arms while without the addition of AlN nanoparticles, a coarser dendrite with much long primary dendrite arms was observed. The phase structure of the laser-treated layer with the addition of AlN nanoparticles was found to be composed of m-ZrO2, c-ZrO2, ZrSiO4 and H-AlN.